Little Wonders
by movienerd1174
Summary: A series of Tuckson drabbles... (prompts are on my Twitter if you would like to request one... twitter handle is same as username)


**Prompt 32: "Are you going to talk to me?"**

Closing her office door behind her, Olivia took a deep breath and she approached her desk. She exhaled and pushed her reading glasses to the top of her head, her body visibly deflating under the weight of who had just walked into the squadroom.

Word had trickled down from 1PP that a convicted rapist that SVU put away was filing an appeal, citing that his confession was coerced. Cue Ed Tucker walking off the elevator, tenacity and humility dripping off his navy blue suit. Conviction integrity suited him. Then again, what didn't?

Feeling a buzz against her backside, she pulled her phone from her back pocket and saw the text notification from Amanda: _Incoming. _

The heat of anxiety clawed up the back of her neck and spread across her chest. Olivia had never been one to lose her cool over a man but when those steely blue eyes and slick silver hair walked in the door she could've sworn she stopped breathing.

It had been just over six months since he kissed her forehead and walked out of her life. Her heart was still fractured and healing and his unexpected presence made her knees feel like they were going to buckle.

Before that could happen, she sat down at her desk and opened her laptop. An abrupt rap at her door echoed throughout the office. "Come in", she called, trying to make her voice sound stronger than it felt.

Her office door opened and there he was, darkening her doorway like he had so many times before. "I left the case file with Rollins." He informed, breaking the heavy silence in the room. The coarseness of his voice causing her chest to constrict.

Buying time, she stared at the loading screen on her laptop for a beat. "Anything else I can do for you, Captain?" She asked curtly, finally braving a look at him.

Ed Tucker's face was always stoic but his eyes were undeniably expressive, especially to the ones who knew him best. Hurt flashed in his bright eyes at her overly professional tone. "_Captain._ Wow, okay." He said softly as he closed the door behind him.

When he turned back to her, his hands were shoved into the pockets of his slacks. The stance made his chest broad and pushed his shoulders back, it was making hard for Olivia to stay indifferent. "_**Are you going to talk to me**?" _He asked, taking a hesitant step forward. "Like _really _talk?_." _

Sighing, she got up from her chair and walked around her desk to lean back against the front of it. She just barely sat on the edge of the polished wood, her hands bracing against it at either side of her hips.

Ed's keen eyes flickered you wear her body connected with the desk, instantly remembering the last time he saw her perched on it. Flashes of her legs around his waist and his lips against her neck made his jaw clench.

"I thought you were retiring." She challenged, the fire blazing in her eyes doing little to dull the one stoking deep in his belly. "The guilt of not being able to give up my career for you tore us apart but it seemed like you didn't give up your career either."

His eyes were drawn to her gesturing hands, as they have always been. And the way she sarcastically squinted her eyes and looked off to the side as if to exaggerate her confusion. His love for sassy Olivia just outweighed his budding indignation at her assumptions and the corner of his thin lips pulled up in the slightest.

"Are you done? he asked. The quirk of his brow held amusement instead of the expected irritation. She crossed her legs at the ankles and made an exaggerated sweeping motion with one of her hands.

Ed couldn't help the tiny chuckle that escaped his lips as he brought a hand up to rub his forehead. She was going to be the death of him and he welcomed it with open arms. "I didn't want to retire... I wanted to retire _with you_."

The animosity that darkened her face melted away at his words. Her jaw dropped open in the slightest and she looked away as if searching for the right words. "Why...", she cleared her throat at the sound of her voice cracking. "Why didn't you say that?"

"I just, I didn't want to put that pressure on you." He explained, his arm pushing his suit jacket back as he stuffed his hand back in his pocket. "Then you started canceling plans, dodging calls and I knew I had already lost you."

Regret washed over her like a stormy wave and she had to clench her teeth to keep the tears from flooding her eyes. Ed took a step closer to her and touched her arm lightly, his thumb running along the dip in her wrist. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this." He urged. The soft pleading in his voice causing her hard facade to dissolve before him.

Their lingering eye contact was broken when his hand dropped from her arm, the back of her hand missing his rough touch as soon as it was gone. Reaching into his back pocket, he opened his brown leather wallet and took out a small poloroid with an inscription on the back.

"I told myself I would give this to you the next time I saw you." He rasped, looking lovingly at the photograph. He stared for a beat longer as if memorizing the content of the picture before extending out his hand.

As she took the picture from him, Ed turned around and headed for the door. She squinted her eyes at the blurred image as she patted down her blazer for her reading glasses. "They're on top of your head, Lieutenant." He informed without even turning around. The way he knew her always left her stunned, especially after all this time.

Glancing back over his shoulder, he gave her a wink that made her heart race. She watched as he slipped out the door as stealthily as he slipped into her heart.

Sliding her glasses to perch on her nose, she looked down at the photograph. She remembered it well. It was a candid of her sitting in a little Parisian cafe with Noah on her lap. They were both laughing as she tickled him, they're smiles brightening the picture far more than the French summer sun.

Turning over the poloroid, she ran her thumb over her familiar scrawl at the bottom. _Always. _A smile pulled at her lips as she remembered slipping this into the breast pocket of his suit jacket the first day back from vacation.

For the first time in months, the thought of Ed Tucker didn't fill her with regret and sadness. It filled her with hope.

**Let me know what you think! **


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